1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a technology for network management, and more specifically to a method for network management which can be applied to configuration of traffic paths and functions of nodes included in the paths in a network based on a software defined network (SDN), and an apparatus performing the same.
2. Related Art
In order to cope with recent expansion of cloud services for smart phones or pad-type terminals, explosive increase of contents, and environmental changes of companies, technologies of software defined networking (hereinafter, referred to as ‘SDN’), for providing flexibility of network and efficient network management functions, have appeared.
The SDN has characteristics that it separates network control functions and packet forwarding functions, performs control functions in a centralized control plane, and configures a network in programming manner.
In the conventional network, each switch node constituting the network having an auto routing function performs packet routing. The auto routing function is efficient for a simple network structure since each switch performs packet routing automatically. However, as network structure becomes complicated according to explosive increase of data, amount of traffic which can be treated by the auto routing function has reached a limit.
In order to overcome the above-described problem of the conventional network, in the SDN, a path of data traffic is configured by the centralized control plane in provisioning manner, so that the problem of the conventional network may be resolved and a time for required for installing new applications may be reduced. The SDN may provide operators with flexibility in configuration, management, and security of network.
Meanwhile, in order to efficiently cope with recent explosive increase of data traffic, efforts to construct a smart network are going on. As one of the efforts, a function of each switch node is being intensified. For example, although the conventional node inspects only a header of a received packet, a current switch node may be configured to perform a deep packet inspection (DPI) function, which can inspect a payload part of a received packet at high speed
A switch node becomes able to provide various services such as firewall, encryption, image processing, etc. by using the DPI function. Also, currently, a switch node having a storage function configured to provide contents or services more efficiently is being used.
However, it is difficult to combine a smart network technology which provides the above-described various services with the SDN technology which pursues standardization of control functions of switch nodes.
For example, the scheme of control commands for the SDN, which is being standardized, has a limit of accommodating functions of a switch node pursuing various services.
Therefore, in order to efficiently combine the smart network with the SDN, a function of configuring detail functions of switch nodes in a centralized manner is demanded in addition to the centralized path configuration.